Anesthesia and Sedation

Anxiety control and patient comfort are integral components of everyday oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) practice. Moderate sedation, deep sedation (DS), and general anesthesia (GA) have been successfully administered by and in the offices of oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) and their anesthesia teams for more than 50 years. The goal of moderate sedation, DS, or GA in the OMFS office is to establish an environment in which patients are comfortable and cooperative while allowing the surgeon to safely perform the operation. This requires meticulous care in which the practitioner balances the depth of sedation and level of responsiveness while maintaining a patent airway, proper and adequate ventilation, and optimal cardiovascular hemodynamics. The record of safety among OMSs with this form of outpatient anesthesia is exemplary. The impressive morbidity and mortality statistics support the concept that the OMFS anesthesia team model is a safe, efficient, and cost‐effective model for office‐based ambulatory surgical‐anesthesia care. Safe anesthesia practice depends on various items, including goals of anesthesia, selecting the proper patient, anesthetic technique utilized, drug regimen selection, monitoring, anesthetic team (staff and anesthesia provider) training, and the team\u27s preparedness to handle unanticipated complications and medical/anesthetic emergencies